Five Weeks

Today is the 5 week anniversary of my departure from Canada to come to French Guiana. In some ways it feels like no time has passed since I left and I can still perfectly remember our first day here...and in other ways it feels like we've been here for months! Part of that comes from how quickly we've been welcomed into the community and into our new home. The Walkers, with whom we are living have made us feel extremely comfortable and so it feels like we've known them longer than just a month. We tease each other and Bob's strange and wonderful sense of humor often gets him little play hits from all the girls. Also, because of the good planning of the community, we were able to immediately start our activities.
We have also welcomed into the house a new girl, Victoria, from Paraguay, who will be helping to increase the number of activities in the area. Hopefully she will be able to drive better than us.
Our Saturday was spent trying to organize children's classes and youth groups in the village of Wagi Pasi, where we spend our Saturday nights. We were only supposed to have 1 of each class but when we learned that a certain group of kids didn't go to one house and the kids from that house couldn't be moved because they are handicapped, we ended off with 2 children's classes and one junior youth class. It is very difficult to work in conditions of disunity, but even harder to move forward as a group. This is true for everything, be it a student council or a multi-billion dollar corporation. True success is achieved when there is unity and consultation is used to make decisions. We do not want to indulge these little fights that go on between families by having 2 separate classes for the same village, yet at the same time we don't want to deprive children of possibly the only moral education they will ever have. It is a dilemma.
Sunday was quite tiring. I tutored a Book 2 (the second book in a sequence of books on capacity development) in the morning and then had a quick lunch and went back out to tutor a Book 3 in the afternoon. It is a bit of a strange arrangement. There are three women in the group. They all speak Dutch and Saramaka but only one speaks a decent amount of French. So the women read out loud using Dutch books, I attempt to formulate questions and lead discussion in a combination of French and Taki-Taki and the rest is just mental connection and sign language. We have a pile of dictionaries and there is lots of laughing. When we finished and I was waiting for a ride, one of the women sat down with me and helped me learn a prayer in Saramaka. She was so encouraging and made me read it over and over and over, correcting my mistakes. This same woman had been very shy during the whole two hours, but when she had a chance to show something she knew how to do, she was radiant. It made me realize how much humans must pride themselves on the knowledge they have and always strive to learn, but then share it with people. Knowledge serves no good if it is kept to oneself.
As the new week began, it felt like we were following more of a regular pattern and there was less uncertainty in the day.
Tuesday's children's class was an absolute chaotic disaster (yes, I am going to insert some of the challenges encountered here..it's not all peachy!) When I arrived I was excited to see 4 new boys who were a little older and who had already been in some children's classes. Unfortunately I got excited too soon. They are boys after all and their "enthusiasm" got the younger ones quite rowdy and about a half an hour into the class I could not be heard and about 4 children were crying. So I comforted them and then sat down and didn't say anything. After about 5 minutes the kids started realizing something was wrong and they hushed each other. I slowly explained that I was very sad that people were being so loud and hitting so much and for this reason there would be no coloring that day....open mouths and complete silence. Even though I said they were free to leave, nobody moved! They were probably all hoping I would give in. Despite the adorable faces looking at me, I didn't and they started to play again, but very quietly. I talked to the boys about the fact that they set an example, though I don't know if that did any good. It's very difficult to teach children's classes in large groups. You don't want to be a strict teacher but if you too nice there is no discipline from the beginning. The children here come of their own free will, they aren't sent, so if they don't like you, they won't come! It is a difficult balance to strike.
The junior youth group that night was almost just as problematic. Two of the girls had had a fight during the week and so of course the rest had taken sides and you could feel the disunity in the group. We said some prayers and talked about unity. Eventually one of the girls just left and we finished with a bit more of a lighter spirit, but it was difficult. It's very draining too! I just pray that during the week some things will be worked out.

Lesson Learned:
Words are very powerful and the way you say the words can change everything. Think before you speak and take into consideration peoples' feelings and the ways they might respond. Being in tune with how others are feeling is not easy, so we must make an effort to be considerate and tactful.